with Kendel Lynn
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Kendel Lynn to Omnimystery News today.
Kendel's debut mystery, Board Stiff (Henery Press, trade paperback and ebook formats), introduces charity director Elliott Lisbon.
We recently had a chance to talk to Kendel about her new series.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us why you chose to write a mystery featuring a recurring character.
Photo provided courtesy of
Kendel Lynn
Kendel Lynn: As a reader, I enjoy revisiting characters and their worlds. They're like familiar friends or favorite vacation spots. And since I already know the surroundings, I'm immersed in seconds. Plus, I'm dying to know what's been going on! When coming up with the story for Board Stiff, I wanted to follow those footsteps. My amateur sleuth, Elliott Lisbon, is developing slowly, over time. Like me! Takes a while to learn some of these life lessons. Not as much fun if we know everything all at once.
OMN: Into what genre — or sub-genre — would you place the book?
KL: I categorize it as traditional mystery. Elliott and her cohorts use a bit of salty language now and then, and she doesn't cook or sew or craft or any of the typical cozy conventions. However, it seems over the last few years, the term cozy has evolved, and is still evolving, to include traditional mysteries. The biggest advantage to being labeled "cozy" is they are more popular and more widely understood. You say "traditional" and some folks have no idea what you're talking about.
OMN: What is your writing process like?
KL: Oh, I'm an outliner, a planner, a list maker. I start with the victim and go from there. What kind of person is he and who wants to kill him? I keep working, thinking, detailing, researching, until I have about a full page summary for each chapter. And by summary, I mean sentence fragments, random ideas, and questions. Once I feel I have most of the kinks worked out (especially adding zing to the boring places), I start the draft. Of course, the story goes where it wants to go, and I let it. But comforting to know I have a plan in there somewhere!
OMN: We're very familiar with Hilton Head Island and it sure sounds like Sea Pine Island, the setting of your book, is quite similar. Coincidence?
KL: You're right! Sea Pine Island, South Carolina is a mirror of Hilton Head Island. Shaped like a shoe and draped in massive live oaks, magnolia trees, and colorful crape myrtles — and filled with a boatload of interesting characters! I liked the idea of creating my own version, so I could add restaurants by the sea, move city hall, and not offend the locals. I volunteered at the sheriff's office on the island for two years, and you simply can't make that stuff up.
OMN: Imagine we're filming an adaptation of Board Stiff and you're the casting director. Who do you see playing the part of Elliott Lisbon?
KL: I'd love to see Ginnifer Goodwin as Elliott. She's a lively blend of snappy tenacity and unbridled determination. And by the time they get the movie made, she'll be the right age! (Assuming production starts in five years …)
OMN: What is the best advice you've received as an author?
KL: The best advice I received as an author: don't listen to criticism. And as a writer: listen to criticism. Both are so very true. When you're writing, criticism is your friend. The kind of friend who lets you know blue isn't your color or those pants look terrible or you have a poppy seed in your teeth. Better a friend tells you before you leave the house. Same with your manuscript. Smart critiques will only strengthen your work, and every work needs critiques.
But as an author, it's important to remember different strokes for different folks. Some may laugh right out loud at your hilariously sharp-witted sleuth, while others think she's an idiot. Once it's out there, you're going to get lots of opinions. Best to take the good, leave the bad, and not worry about it. There'll be more opinions tomorrow.
OMN: What's next for you?
KL: I'm writing the next book in the Elliott Lisbon mystery series: Whack Job. Like I mentioned earlier, Elliott is a work in progress. She learned some lessons from Board Stiff, but she's still figuring things out.
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Kendel Lynn is a Southern California native who now parks her flip-flops in Dallas, Texas. She read her first Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators at the age of seven and has loved mysteries ever since. Her debut novel, Board Stiff, won several literary competitions, including the Zola Award for Mystery/Suspense. Along with writing and reading, she spends her time as the managing editor of Henery Press where she acquires, edits, and figures out ways to avoid the gym but still eat cupcakes for dinner.
To learn more about Kendel and her books, visit her website at KendelLynn.com or follow her on Twitter.
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Board Stiff
Kendel Lynn
An Elliott Lisbon Mystery (1st in series)
As director of the Ballantyne Foundation on Sea Pine Island, SC, Elliott Lisbon scratches her detective itch by performing discreet inquiries for Foundation donors. Usually nothing more serious than retrieving a pilfered Pomeranian. Until Jane Hatting, Ballantyne board chair, is accused of murder. The Ballantyne's reputation tanks, Jane's headed to a jail cell, and Elliott's sexy ex is the new lieutenant in town.
Armed with moxie and her Mini Coop, Elliott uncovers a trail of blackmail schemes, gambling debts, illicit affairs, and investment scams. But the deeper she digs to clear Jane's name, the guiltier Jane looks. The closer she gets to the truth, the more treacherous her investigation becomes: a brutal attack on her own suspect and the murder of a witness. With victims piling up faster than shells at a clambake, Elliott realizes she's next on the killer's list.
